MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Leaders here are urging parents and guardians to be vigilant in observing changes in behaviour, including children being suicidal, following the death of a 14-year-old girl who allegedly ingested engine coolant.

The child, a resident of Bottom Coffee Grove district in Porus, died at hospital on Tuesday, two days after she reportedly ingested the substance.

A police report said on Sunday about 10:00 pm, the grandmother of the teen heard funny sounds coming from her granddaughter’s room. The police said the grandmother alerted the teen’s mom who lived close by and both of them went to investigate. The police said that upon entering the room it was discovered that the child had consumed a bottle of coolant. She was taken to the hospital, admitted in serious condition before succumbing Tuesday morning.

She attended the Mandeville-based Belair High School where she was in grade nine.

Principal of Belair High Conrad Jones told the Jamaica Observer that the school provided counselling for students especially classmates of the deceased on Wednesday.

“We had our PTA president and vice-president and the president of the Guidance Counsellors of Manchester chapter giving some support to the students,” he said.

“The students, especially her classmates, expressed themselves; they were in shock and grief, but we would have gone and done an extensive counselling session with them,” added Jones.

Said a teacher who requested anonymity: “She was not a regular attending student. The attendance was poor and so she wasn’t coming to school [often]. We have had several issues with her running away.”

When asked about the responses needed to assist children experiencing depression and suicidal thoughts, Jones said children’s voices should be heard.

“The first set of thoughts that came to my mind after hearing the demise of the young lady, is that you see people and you don’t know what they are going through. You just have to ensure that as a person you have to be respectful, you have to be inclusive, and ensure that whatever you do. [In interacting] with people Just make sure that they leave away from you feeling better,” he said.

“We have to ensure that for especially our teenagers in our society that we listen to them. We tend to always be wanting to talking at them rather than with them. We have to listen to them. We have to pay attention to any trend in terms of their attitude and their behaviour and just ensure that we get the professionals involved in solving some of these problems,” added Jones.

He said some parents are not aware of how to cope with mental health issues facing children. “… So, we have to ensure that we involve the professionals to [stop] any of our students/young people going down this road. We have to always listen to people, it is very important,” said Jones.

He added that he is arranging to visit with Williams’ family.

Councillor Mario Mitchell (People’s National Party, Bellefield Division) told the Jamaica Observer that he was shocked to learn that the teen committed suicide.

“I know the family and I was very upset that I wasn’t aware that the child was going through some mental and stressful situations. I was very surprised at what I learnt after [her death],” he said.

Mitchell regretted not knowing of the teen’s circumstance, as he would have wanted to assist in arranging counselling.

He added that in recent weeks there have been activities in the Porus area aimed at training parents and educators to respond to behavioural changes among students.

“We did parenting workshops… Weeks ago, I was at Porus Primary with teachers and students about the same thing. There was a psychologist there from The UWI and there was a passing out ceremony for teachers who would have done a course in the whole behavioural changes of students since they have been back to school [following] the pandemic,” said Mitchell.

“I was shocked, taken aback. I was surprised, because I could have had an intervention and given help if I had known about the situation. The family is hurt. The community is hurt, but the community is also angry; they feel that this should not have been the case. They feel that something should have been done and that the matter could have been handled differently. I was also upset with a number of them who knew about the situation and never said anything to me,” added Mitchell.

The Observer was told that Williams allegedly had self-inflicted wounds and attempted to committed suicide by ingesting harmful substances prior to Sunday’s incident.

“Persons [said they] saw signs of bruises and cuts on her hand,” said Mitchell.

“I was even in the community up to last week [Friday] with the Prime Minister [Andrew Holness] opening a house and I was never aware that the child was going through all of these problems. I understand that she was missing from school and a number of other issues,” he added.

In the meantime, Custos of Manchester Garfield Green said more should be done by those responsible for the care and protection of children to respond to changes in behaviour.

“… As silent as a child can ever be, they will always display some sign of either neglect, abuse, some sign that they are in need of help if we observe them carefully; as was said her attendance was poor, that is a sign of something either her doing or the doing of [adults] why her attendance to school was poor and we tend to overlook these things,” said Green.

“What disappoints me is every school now has a dean of discipline and a guidance counsellor as far as I know and I don’t know how much is being done to go the extra mile to save our children, it hurts my heart when our children are hurting and even more so to the point of taking their lives, it is very disturbing,” added Green.

He said children should feel loved and appreciated

“We must always do it, if it means going an extra mile, we must do it. Children are very innocent and sometimes it is the remarks that we make against them. Sometimes a teacher says something negative to them. Sometimes a parent might say something negative to them. Sometimes it is a family member abusing them or people who they trust and they don’t know how to say it out of fear for their lives and fear that they will be hurting the person that hurt them,” said Green.

“There are persons who are trained. They should try and identify signs in children that are of concern, but don’t take some things lightly if a child comes to school and is falling asleep, find out what is wrong. If the child is hungry, has a scar, because he or she is being abused, find out. Love them and appreciate them. Hug them. Say ‘I love you’ to a child. I have seen a lot of cases and it always comes down to feeling unwanted, feeling less important than others,” added Green.